Caoimhin O’Muraile ☭ BBC Match of the Day Presenter Gary Lineker has spoken out against the British Governments “plans for illegal immigration.”


They plan to ban for life anybody trying to enter Britain, illegally, and sending them back to their country of origin is an option, providing their life is not in danger. Another option as part of a broader plan is to send people landing on British shores to Rwanda! 

Have these ministers ever considered the real possibility that many arriving in Britain, or anywhere else for that matter, may not have the correct papers thus making them possible illegals? Countries where people are fleeing for their lives do not always, if ever, go through the niceties of giving these desperate souls documentation which may give them access to their country of destination? So, what happens if a refugee arrives, in Britain, without the correct identification or other required paperwork because the authorities where they are coming from refused to give them any? Or, the government of the land they are fleeing wanted to kill them? After all, if a regime has the idea to liquidate a person, they are hardly likely to go to a branch of that government asking for the correct paperwork in order to travel! Does this mean they will be refused entry into Britain and thereafter banned from the shores for life? 

The British Government is lunging further and further to the right and is adopting para-fascist methods. How long before we see the mask come off and the real face of fascism exposed in the corridors of Westminster? It was arguably tried once with Thatcher, but the checks and balances prevented her going as far as perhaps she wished. She did try to get the Labour leader, Neil Kinnock, kicked off the Privy Council because he was too left wing! This was Kinnock who failed to support the NUM in the 1984/85 strike!!

All these racist plans and legislation are a direct result of so-called Brexit. The campaign to bring the United Kingdom out of the European Union which was led by an alliance of the parliamentary right-wing, the far-right and the fascist right. This alliance was not dissimilar to the first minority government formed by Hitler in 1933 when the Conservative Right held governmental posts under Chancellor Hitler. Two of the constituent parts of the UK, Scotland and the Six Counties, voted to remain in the EU but have nevertheless been dragged out against their will in favour of the overriding will of England. The racists have been trying for years to legitimately introduce racist legislation and Brexit has provided them with this opportunity. The British plan may also go against International Law and conventions. What next for the British, pull out of the UN perhaps? Or no longer apply international conventions on human rights? This is what Hitler and the Japanese did to the League of Nations: when things did not go their way, they just left. More similarities perhaps?

Gary Lineker has spoken out against this and has compared the language used by the British Government with that of the Nazis in Germany during the 30s. His analysis and comparison is about right. British Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, has said Lineker is being “unhelpful” with his comments. She said his comparison with the language used in “Germany during the 30s” is unfair. Other right wingers have said it is “preposterous” to make such comparisons and called such comparisons “unfair and dangerous”. They appear to be suggesting Lineker is likening the governments language to those who died in the German camps via the Gas Chambers, and that such a comparison is unfair and an exaggeration. Gary Lineker never mentioned the Gas Chambers or the so-called “Final Solution” which came about in the early 1940s not the 30s. What the former Leicester City, Everton, Barcelona and Tottenham Hotspur player was doing, by comparing the “language” used by Ms Braverman and her cohorts with that of the Nazi Government in 1930s Germany and where it led to! The language used by Hitler took several years to gain traction amongst the German population but eventually he got his sick message through. The next step was eradication, after Jew baiting, physical assault and separation. Camps like the notorious Treblinka were set up across Germany and the countries the German armed forces (the Wehrmacht) had conquered.

Was Lineker correct in drawing comparisons with the language used by members of the British Government with that of the Third Reich? Yes, he was, very much so. If we look at Hitlers early ideas to transport Jewish people to the island of Madagascar it does sound frighteningly similar to the British Governments plans to send refugees to Rwanda! This was one of Hitlers early ideas to get the “Jews out of Germany”, later more dramatic less humane methods were adopted. But it was much of this early language during the 30s which ensured the public would not say too much against these ideas a few years later. 

Once an idea is planted it just needs cultivating which is what happened in Nazi Germany, before it blossoms which it did. Could the same happen in Britain? Yes, of course it could, once language like “ban for life” and “deportation of all illegal immigrants” without defining what an “illegal immigrant” is. Once language like this gains an audience, people who are prepared to listen, the narrative becomes the norm. Making deals and agreements with other countries acts as a smokescreen if things go wrong, is another ploy. More police on the ground could be a move towards the arbitrary arrest of any citizen on the grounds of national security. The latest language to come out of the British parliament is “the patience of the British people will run out if we do not act” when referring to refugees. This is akin to the German propaganda office and Minister for Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, when he addressed a monster rally claiming “the Jews had better shut their filthy mouths, our patience will one day run out.” See the similarities?

It is this language Lineker is talking about, and what such talk and narratives led to. He did not mention the Gas Chambers, or mass murder in the 40s of Jewish people and any other group, trade unionists, socialists, communists and Gypsies, in his condemnation as Braverman implies. It is the language and where it could lead which is his bone of contention, as it should be to any sane person. This kind of crap is expected from the far-right groups like “Britain First” the “British National Party” and other neo-Nazi organisations. The similarities between what the Sunak Government are using and that of Hitler's Nazi party are stark. Of course, these ministers when questioned about this comparison run immediately for the fact their grandparents were immigrants fleeing oppression, or had escaped the Nazis in Germany during the period Lineker alludes to. Well, if this is the case then they should know better than to use the same language their forebearers fled from.

Gary Lineker has since been reinstated as presenter of MOTD subject to a review of BBC policy on presenters making “political comments”. The BBC policy is not the issue here. What is the issue is the language used by the British Government in this regard! Are the BBC shit scared of this right-wing Conservative Government in Britain? Is Britain witnessing the planting of the seeds of constitutional fascism? In England, more so than Scotland and Wales, there are those who will agree wholeheartedly with the government’s plans for “illegal immigrants” perhaps, in most cases, not knowing or thinking where it could all lead! Unfortunately, there are those, a minority so far, who know full well the possible end result!

In London’s East End, once a hotbed of socialist activity back in the pre-war Second World War years of the twentieth-century, the fascists now have traction. The National Front (NF) and later the British National Party (BNP) have, in the very recent past, made headway in local council elections. They have been assisted in their quest for power by centre left and far left councils knocking down English working-class temples of culture like, for example, the Public House, traditional meeting places for the workers after a hard day’s work, and replacing them with Mosques. Nobody was objecting to Mosques but not at the expense of the cultural places for recreation already present. There could and should be room for both to cater for all. This causes discontent which the fascists immediately jump on. If such activity continues the fascist gains made at local level could, one day, be transformed into national government. Could the Conservatives be trying to emulate the fascists by enacting many of their would-be laws? Perhaps the people of Britain should wise up, and fast.

Over here in the 26 counties we too should not get complacent. Recently, Sunday 5th March, on RTEs A Week in Politics presented by Aine Lawlor the question was asked, by her, of Sinn Fein and People Before Profit, “if a left-wing government were to be elected in Ireland there could be a backlash by the rich using the army and police could there not?” Now, what this was suggesting, and it does not mean Aine believes this should happen or will happen, is just how shallow this liberal democracy really is. If the electorate vote the wrong way this was almost an acknowledgement by RTE that forces are available to the wealthy, the Irish bourgeoisie, to remove the elected government not to their liking by force! As we know the far-right are active on the streets all over Ireland with, it appears, very little left resistance and now are they being given credibility by RTE? Politically these are potentially dangerous times and not only on these islands. Anti-fascists must not get caught napping!

Finally, let us all face facts, none of us in any country can say they are not descended from people who came from somewhere else. In other words we are all, either directly or indirectly, refugees.

🖼 Caoimhin O’Muraile is Independent Socialist Republican and Marxist.

Lineker Is Right

Caoimhin O’Muraile ☭ BBC Match of the Day Presenter Gary Lineker has spoken out against the British Governments “plans for illegal immigration.”


They plan to ban for life anybody trying to enter Britain, illegally, and sending them back to their country of origin is an option, providing their life is not in danger. Another option as part of a broader plan is to send people landing on British shores to Rwanda! 

Have these ministers ever considered the real possibility that many arriving in Britain, or anywhere else for that matter, may not have the correct papers thus making them possible illegals? Countries where people are fleeing for their lives do not always, if ever, go through the niceties of giving these desperate souls documentation which may give them access to their country of destination? So, what happens if a refugee arrives, in Britain, without the correct identification or other required paperwork because the authorities where they are coming from refused to give them any? Or, the government of the land they are fleeing wanted to kill them? After all, if a regime has the idea to liquidate a person, they are hardly likely to go to a branch of that government asking for the correct paperwork in order to travel! Does this mean they will be refused entry into Britain and thereafter banned from the shores for life? 

The British Government is lunging further and further to the right and is adopting para-fascist methods. How long before we see the mask come off and the real face of fascism exposed in the corridors of Westminster? It was arguably tried once with Thatcher, but the checks and balances prevented her going as far as perhaps she wished. She did try to get the Labour leader, Neil Kinnock, kicked off the Privy Council because he was too left wing! This was Kinnock who failed to support the NUM in the 1984/85 strike!!

All these racist plans and legislation are a direct result of so-called Brexit. The campaign to bring the United Kingdom out of the European Union which was led by an alliance of the parliamentary right-wing, the far-right and the fascist right. This alliance was not dissimilar to the first minority government formed by Hitler in 1933 when the Conservative Right held governmental posts under Chancellor Hitler. Two of the constituent parts of the UK, Scotland and the Six Counties, voted to remain in the EU but have nevertheless been dragged out against their will in favour of the overriding will of England. The racists have been trying for years to legitimately introduce racist legislation and Brexit has provided them with this opportunity. The British plan may also go against International Law and conventions. What next for the British, pull out of the UN perhaps? Or no longer apply international conventions on human rights? This is what Hitler and the Japanese did to the League of Nations: when things did not go their way, they just left. More similarities perhaps?

Gary Lineker has spoken out against this and has compared the language used by the British Government with that of the Nazis in Germany during the 30s. His analysis and comparison is about right. British Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, has said Lineker is being “unhelpful” with his comments. She said his comparison with the language used in “Germany during the 30s” is unfair. Other right wingers have said it is “preposterous” to make such comparisons and called such comparisons “unfair and dangerous”. They appear to be suggesting Lineker is likening the governments language to those who died in the German camps via the Gas Chambers, and that such a comparison is unfair and an exaggeration. Gary Lineker never mentioned the Gas Chambers or the so-called “Final Solution” which came about in the early 1940s not the 30s. What the former Leicester City, Everton, Barcelona and Tottenham Hotspur player was doing, by comparing the “language” used by Ms Braverman and her cohorts with that of the Nazi Government in 1930s Germany and where it led to! The language used by Hitler took several years to gain traction amongst the German population but eventually he got his sick message through. The next step was eradication, after Jew baiting, physical assault and separation. Camps like the notorious Treblinka were set up across Germany and the countries the German armed forces (the Wehrmacht) had conquered.

Was Lineker correct in drawing comparisons with the language used by members of the British Government with that of the Third Reich? Yes, he was, very much so. If we look at Hitlers early ideas to transport Jewish people to the island of Madagascar it does sound frighteningly similar to the British Governments plans to send refugees to Rwanda! This was one of Hitlers early ideas to get the “Jews out of Germany”, later more dramatic less humane methods were adopted. But it was much of this early language during the 30s which ensured the public would not say too much against these ideas a few years later. 

Once an idea is planted it just needs cultivating which is what happened in Nazi Germany, before it blossoms which it did. Could the same happen in Britain? Yes, of course it could, once language like “ban for life” and “deportation of all illegal immigrants” without defining what an “illegal immigrant” is. Once language like this gains an audience, people who are prepared to listen, the narrative becomes the norm. Making deals and agreements with other countries acts as a smokescreen if things go wrong, is another ploy. More police on the ground could be a move towards the arbitrary arrest of any citizen on the grounds of national security. The latest language to come out of the British parliament is “the patience of the British people will run out if we do not act” when referring to refugees. This is akin to the German propaganda office and Minister for Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, when he addressed a monster rally claiming “the Jews had better shut their filthy mouths, our patience will one day run out.” See the similarities?

It is this language Lineker is talking about, and what such talk and narratives led to. He did not mention the Gas Chambers, or mass murder in the 40s of Jewish people and any other group, trade unionists, socialists, communists and Gypsies, in his condemnation as Braverman implies. It is the language and where it could lead which is his bone of contention, as it should be to any sane person. This kind of crap is expected from the far-right groups like “Britain First” the “British National Party” and other neo-Nazi organisations. The similarities between what the Sunak Government are using and that of Hitler's Nazi party are stark. Of course, these ministers when questioned about this comparison run immediately for the fact their grandparents were immigrants fleeing oppression, or had escaped the Nazis in Germany during the period Lineker alludes to. Well, if this is the case then they should know better than to use the same language their forebearers fled from.

Gary Lineker has since been reinstated as presenter of MOTD subject to a review of BBC policy on presenters making “political comments”. The BBC policy is not the issue here. What is the issue is the language used by the British Government in this regard! Are the BBC shit scared of this right-wing Conservative Government in Britain? Is Britain witnessing the planting of the seeds of constitutional fascism? In England, more so than Scotland and Wales, there are those who will agree wholeheartedly with the government’s plans for “illegal immigrants” perhaps, in most cases, not knowing or thinking where it could all lead! Unfortunately, there are those, a minority so far, who know full well the possible end result!

In London’s East End, once a hotbed of socialist activity back in the pre-war Second World War years of the twentieth-century, the fascists now have traction. The National Front (NF) and later the British National Party (BNP) have, in the very recent past, made headway in local council elections. They have been assisted in their quest for power by centre left and far left councils knocking down English working-class temples of culture like, for example, the Public House, traditional meeting places for the workers after a hard day’s work, and replacing them with Mosques. Nobody was objecting to Mosques but not at the expense of the cultural places for recreation already present. There could and should be room for both to cater for all. This causes discontent which the fascists immediately jump on. If such activity continues the fascist gains made at local level could, one day, be transformed into national government. Could the Conservatives be trying to emulate the fascists by enacting many of their would-be laws? Perhaps the people of Britain should wise up, and fast.

Over here in the 26 counties we too should not get complacent. Recently, Sunday 5th March, on RTEs A Week in Politics presented by Aine Lawlor the question was asked, by her, of Sinn Fein and People Before Profit, “if a left-wing government were to be elected in Ireland there could be a backlash by the rich using the army and police could there not?” Now, what this was suggesting, and it does not mean Aine believes this should happen or will happen, is just how shallow this liberal democracy really is. If the electorate vote the wrong way this was almost an acknowledgement by RTE that forces are available to the wealthy, the Irish bourgeoisie, to remove the elected government not to their liking by force! As we know the far-right are active on the streets all over Ireland with, it appears, very little left resistance and now are they being given credibility by RTE? Politically these are potentially dangerous times and not only on these islands. Anti-fascists must not get caught napping!

Finally, let us all face facts, none of us in any country can say they are not descended from people who came from somewhere else. In other words we are all, either directly or indirectly, refugees.

🖼 Caoimhin O’Muraile is Independent Socialist Republican and Marxist.

7 comments:

  1. Caoimhin - a bit like those into Israeli War Crime denial seeking to complain about comparisons made between what Israel does in Gaza to 1930s Germany.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very similar Anthony, very similar indeed. It is often said, the conqered and vanquished often adopt some of their one time tormentors methods.
    Reference Free State actions, as in last weeks blog, inthe Irish Civil War.

    Caoimhin O'Muraile

    ReplyDelete
  3. OK...

    Just playing Devil's Advocate here...

    1, Aren't refugees supposed to take shelter in the first nearest countries to have them? Isn't that the official UN position?

    2, If the EU is so fandabbydozy, why are the migrants going through Europe to get to the UK? Is it not because of the fact that the benefit system/NHS is so attractive to them? I've had this confirmed by Africans.

    3, T'is a bit odd wanting Britain out of places yet wanting Britain to take everyone in, dont'cha think?

    ReplyDelete
  4. I am.more concerned with the similarities between the language used in the Third Reich and that spewing out of British tory mouths. It is very dangerous, as history proves, and suggests a sinister direction the politics of Britain may be going. Braverman is using the style and even words used by Goebbells as I gave the example of! That should concern us all!!

    If by "wanting Britain out of places" you mean the EU, England, not Britain, chose that avenue.

    Caoimhin O'Muraile

    ReplyDelete
  5. Did you ever read Viktor Klemperer's Language Of The Third Reich?

    He said: 'It isn't only Nazi actions that have to vanish, but also the Nazi cast of mind, the typical Nazi way of thinking, and its breeding ground: the language of Nazism.'

    ReplyDelete
  6. No, didn't read it Anthony, would like to though.

    If language is anything to use as a political barrometer, then what is coming out of the British Parliament must be met with alarm at least.

    Caoimhin O'Muraile

    ReplyDelete
  7. The really apposite comparison with the 1930s is the denial of refuge to Jews fleeing Nazi Germany on the grounds that such a "swarm" or "invasion" would generate more antisemitism in Britain.

    The point to bear in mind is that asylum and immigration policy is that it has always been racialised from The Aliens Act 1905 which sought to keep out Jews escaping pograms in Russia and Eastern Europe; through the Commonwealth Immigration Acts of 1968 and 1971 which drew the invidious distinction between "Old" (White) Commonwealth and "New" Commonwealth (Black and/or Brown); Theresa May's "hostile environment" policy which led directly to the Windrush Scandal to the middle finger being given to the wretched of the Earth by the current Small Boats Bill.

    ReplyDelete